More than 656,000 tons of food were taken out of Ukraine as part of the “grain deal”

More than 656,300 tons of grain have been taken out of Ukrainian ports since August 1, when the implementation of the “grain deal” began, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said at a press conference with UN Secretary General António Guterres in Istanbul.

“Since August 1, 656 thousand 349 tons of grain have been exported from three Ukrainian ports, and we expect that the export of agricultural products will grow,” Akar said (quoted from TASS).

According to the minister, 51 vessels are engaged in the export of grain products. 27 of them left the ports of Ukraine, 24 went for loading, Hulusi Akar said. Also, the head of the Turkish Defense Ministry added that it is planned to increase the export of agricultural products from Ukraine.

On July 22, representatives of Turkey and the UN signed separate agreements with representatives of Russia and Ukraine on the export of Ukrainian grain, as well as on assistance in the export of Russian grain and fertilizers. On July 27, the Joint Coordination Center for the export of grain began its work in Istanbul.

On August 11, Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Ivan Nechaev said that the destinations of ships leaving the ports of Ukraine with grain are in Western countries, and not in the starving states of Africa. According to him, the range of goods is dominated not by wheat, the shortage of which in Africa and the Middle East was mentioned by Western politicians, but by corn and sunflower oil, and they are being transported to European ports. This, according to Nechaev, casts doubt on the fact that global food security really depended on the grain deal to unblock Ukrainian ports.